Food Insecurity Is Associated With Food Diversity, Depression and Blood Pressure Among Rural and Urban High School Students in the Kurdish Population of Iran Publisher



Arzhang P¹ ; Gargari BP² ; Bagheri A^{3, 4} ; Eshtivani EN⁵ ; Ghavami A⁶ ; Mohammadi F⁷ Show Affiliations
Source: Progress in Nutrition Published:2020

Abstract

Introduction: Due to lack of data on the food insecurity and food diversity in the west of Iran, this study conducted to assay food insecurity and its association with food diversity, depression and blood pressure among Kurdish population focusing on high school students and their families. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted between September and March, 2015-2016 on 364 high-school students (68.68% urban and 31.32% rural) and their families. Food security questionnaire, general socio-economic questionnaire (SEQ) and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) test was used to assess depression condition. Data analysis was performed with SPSS22 and P value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Result: Participants with food diversity less than the median (group2) had more associated to food insecurity in all participants (P=0.02). Moreover, in total population dairy diversity was negatively associated with food insecurity (p=0.05). No association was observed between food insecurity and depression among all participants (P=0.54) but after splitting to sex it was significant for female (P=0.02) but not male (P=0.48). Conclusion: food insecurity is associated with different complication in high-school students in the Kurdish population, west of Iran. Food insecurity which is related to low income is related also to low food diversity and other aspects of life such as mental problems, as mentioned depression. © 2020 Mattioli 1885. All rights reserved.